Author: IANS
Publication: The Economic Times
Date: October 15, 2001
Introduction: Says 'Storm of Planes'
won't stop until US stopped supporting Hindus and Jews
Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda group
on Sunday sought to link itself to the separatist movement in Jammu and
Kashmir, warning the US not to support India's campaign against terror
groups in the Himalayan state.
In a message threatening more suicide
attacks on US and British interests in retaliation for the military strikes
on Afghanistan, Al Qaeda spokesman Suleiman Abu Ghaith said its 'storm
of airplanes' would not end till the US stopped supporting Hindus against
Muslims in Kashmir' and 'the Jews in Palestine'.
Indian officials were not available
for comments on the Al Qaeda threat that is apparently aimed at garnering
support for the group's actions from the people of Kashmir, India's only
Muslim-majority state.
New Delhi has often accused bin
Laden of having links with leaders of several terrorist groups operating
in Kashmir, including the Lashkar-e-Toiba, Harkatul-Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammed,
whose assets were frozen by the US on Friday.
The Jaish was placed on the US Treasury
Department's list of specially designated global terrorists, while the
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen has been on the State Department's list of foreign
terrorist organisations since 1997.
Maulana Masood Azhar, who founded
the Jaish in early '00, is among the militant leaders who, Indian intelligence
officials say, are very close to bin Laden.
Ghaith's prerecorded message, broadcast
early Sunday by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera satellite television network,
was picked up and aired by several Indian television channels.
"The storm of airplanes will not
be calmed, if it is God's will," he said, warning Muslims not to travel
by planes and to avoid high-rise buildings in countries that are taking
part in military strikes against Afghanistan.
He said the "storm will not calm'
until the US stopped -supporting the Jews in Palestine, until it vacated
the Arabian peninsula, and until it stopped supporting Hindus against Muslims
in Kashmir.
"Storms are not going to calm, especially
the storm of planes until America withdraws in defeat from Afghanistan,"
Ghaith said. The Al Qaeda would extend 'full support' to the Taliban in
facing the US-led strikes, he said. - IANS
